Taking Pictures

I belong the Amateur Photography Club at the Memorial Park Community Center in Johnson City. We are is just a bunch of seniors who like to shoot pictures. The nice thing about modern electronic photography is that an amateur can take dozens of shots of the same thing and experiment with settings but the price is the same to view any of them. Getting that one good shot out of 100 attempts is not expensive.

I have an armload of film cameras in the closet. I first took the photographic bait in the late 60s on a trip to Mexico. I sensed I wanted a record of the trip, of course, because this was a first (and only) trip. Those memories are fading and the photographs lone gone. My current camera is a moderately-priced Nikon. It takes practice to uncover all the mysterious workings of any camera. The nice thing is that practice only costs you is time.

What has changed, as we all know, is that cameras don’t look like cameras in a device called a phone that doesn’t look like a phone to produce an image that is not “graphic,” meaning not “on paper.”  

It ought to become apparent, it you look at the photos in the Johnson City Sesquicentennial headquarters, of how photographs will be important 50, 100, or 150 years down the road. If something you think ought to be preserved, take a photograph. That may be all that is left in another half-century. We can’t photograph everything. When you add up all the pictures that tell stories, those with people, the problem becomes enormous. For instance, the mundane is more than enough: street crews, war memorial services, walking the dog, interesting houses, fashion, cars, jam sessions, sporting events, festivals. There is no way of knowing what will still be in vogue in 50 years and certainly no way of knowing who will make decisions about what is important to review.

I have a photograph of the alley between Numan’s and Capone’s. Down this block-long alley, bounded by a tree at the Northeast State campus end, in late afternoon, is nothing extravagant, but it is a place overlooked until that one time when the light is right. I think it is the kind of thing a person would walk by without giving it a thought. Or, driving by the White City Laundry without noticing it?

This hobby, like all hobbies, creates an awareness, in this case an awareness that there is more to see and subsequently more to photograph. It isn’t that you have to be a shutterbug or an expert. What is does take is stepping outdoors, sometimes early in the morning and sometimes late in the evening, to get the good light. You might think downtown Johnson City rather un-photogenic but in low-level light some of the places and detail pop out.

I wandered Main and Market Streets one Saturday morning last summer before the Farmer’s Market opened and just started taking picture after picture of store fronts. That’s not very original but by the time I was done I had a collection of some rather interesting architecture and signage. While the downtown could use a severe remodel the older architecture is still worth a look.

But, the city has grown in a way that means good images can be someplace else besides the historic downtown. Each little shopping area represents part of the near past that we can only hope is still part of the future in 50 years. The Mall might be a housing subdivision in 50 years. West Market might be the new center of town and the old downtown reborn as a theme park. Some new parks will replace some old parks.

Drive down the back streets. Go to an intersection in the morning for the low-light effect and shoot in all four directions. Then start walking. The world almost literally opens up to the camera.

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saintly names?

A friend of mine and I were sitting on the porch of Starbucks on North Roan Street in Johnson City enjoying a cool, bright morning with coffee and each others company. Across the way was the Sears/Diehard store and in their parking lot was a van available for rent for storage. I don’t know why or what but I picked up on the idea of “van storage” as a name “Van St. Orage.” (Very French!) That opened the gate to try a few words that begin with “st” as names.

These things get out of hand sometimes.

I have about 25 pages of words beginning with “st” in my dictionary and I tried my hand at sounding out a few until the brain began to swell.

Stadia becomes St. Adia.
Stolen becomes St. Olen.
Strange becomes St. Range.
Standard becomes St. Andard.

But, if you’re looking for a character name, who is also a saint but doesn't have to be, and are not ashamed to write too much contrivance, this might be a start, at least, although probably not a good habit for your finished work.

stain
stagnate
Stalin
steady
stemma
stereo
strangle

Good luck!
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